Sewing in the Purple Room

Saturday, March 14, 2009

Here's my first block from my "Bee Inspired" swap. Rachel sent this awesome fabric from Pat Sloan called "Nikki", and requested pinwheels. I have never made pinwheels before, so it was fun to learn a new technique. Thankfully, I made a practice block before I cut into Rachel's fabrics, because I messed up horribly! I hope she likes it! To see more of the blocks everyone has made this month, click the "Bee Inspired" block on the right hand side!

Thursday, February 26, 2009

I have been wanting to make a "gray" quilt for sometime now. At my local quilt shop, I saw these beautiful fabrics called "Botanical Pop" on clearance and I knew I had to have them! I bought 6 prints, one yard of each, and when I returned home, noticed that I already had 2 fat quarters of the same line. These fats are shown on both ends of the picture. How's that for meant to be?? I don't know what pattern I'm going to use, or even when I'm going to get started, but I couldn't pass these babies up!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Remember this post? Well, finally, the quilt is completed! I finished hand sewing the binding on Sunday night. I have to say, for my first quilt ever, I think it turned out pretty great! I know Christmas has come and gone,but I think this one will be used year round at my house, or at least until I make another quilt!

This quilt has been so close to being done for quite some time now...I hate hand sewing the binding, so that's why I kept putting it off. Now that it's done, I wish I had finished it sooner. I did all the quilting myself...for those who know....I echo quilted vertical lines on either side of each block.

the pieced back.....I love a pieced back!

It's already getting some use! that's me, curled up on the couch, hiding from the camera

Monday, February 23, 2009

I've been picked to participate in a International Quilting Bee called "Bee inspired." I'm really excited. How this "bee" works is that there are 18 members, with each member assigned to a month. On each person's assigned month, they send fabric to all the other members with instructions for what type of 12.5x12.5 inch quilt square they would like. Upon receiving the fabric, I make that quilt square, and send it back, and they piece together the 17 received blocks into one quilt top. My month is going to be either September or October. I'm going to have to decide what I want my quilt to look like, and what fabrics I want it made from. This "bee" is international, and some of the participants are from Norway, Germany, and New Zealand. I think it's going to be really fun, and I hope to learn some new techniques along the way. I'm going to place the above "button" on my side bar. You can follow our progress along the way by clicking the button to look at our Flickr photo group.

Sunday, February 22, 2009

Here are pictures of the Kimono Top that I made for my cousin's daughter Mia's 3rd birthday! I think it turned out pretty great! I need to adjust the pattern for myself and make a bigger one. Size 3T is hard to work with! :)

Friday, February 6, 2009

I purchased this Mail Sack pattern from Pink Chalk Studio before Christmas, but never had the chance to get it started. I had been searching for the perfect fabric for the bag for quite awhile as well, and finally found Sugar Snap by Melissa Averinos and thought it was perfect for this bag! I changed the bag up a little bit....the large size was supposed to have a zipper pocket in it, but I didn't want to wait till the next time I made it to JoAnn's to buy a zipper, so I made two divided pockets. I absolutely love this bag! I can't wait to show it off around town and in the local fabric shop. I originally made it to use as my work bag, but I'm thinking I'll need to make another for work. I don't want to get this one dirty yet! :)

Thursday, February 5, 2009

Here is my niece, Keeley, sporting her Kimono shirt that I made her for Christmas! Isn't she a cutie!? I'm happy that it fits her so well, seeing as this was my first piece of "clothing" I've made since taking my Mom's sewing class in high school!

I made another top for my cousin's daughter's birthday, so I'll be posting pics as soon as I download them!